South Africa's consumer watchdog has announced it is investigating overbooking and/or overselling at FlySafair (FA, Johannesburg O.R. Tambo) after the airline was widely criticised on social media for admitting to the practice following a consumer complaint.

National Consumer Commission (NCC) acting commissioner Hardin Ratshisusu has urged consumers to come forward and provide information that could assist the investigation. The airline admitted to overbooking on January 5 when responding to criticism from a passenger who shared his frustration on social media after arriving at the airport and being told there were no available seats on the flight he had paid for.

"Whilst we understand the importance of passengers reaching their destination on time and on the flight that they have paid for, we do overbook flights to ensure we keep our tickets as affordable as possible for our passengers. We do see how inconvenient this can be and therefore offer compensation for passengers that were not able to take the flight they've booked," FlySafair responded, unleashing a social media storm from outraged consumers.

The airline subsequently apologised on social media channels to all passengers who were denied boarding due to overbooking.

The NCAA said it would assess if the airline conforms with the provisions of South Africa's Consumer Protection Act (CPA), particularly regarding overselling and overbooking, misleading marketing, unfair contract terms, and consumer rights in the delivery of a service.

"We welcome the opportunity to provide clarity on this issue and remain confident that our policies and practices are not only compliant with the CPA but also among the most transparent and consumer-focused in the industry," FlySafair said in a formal statement.

Still, the airline called for the probe to be fair and consider the broader context, saying that overbooking is not unique to FlySafair, which should not be singled out in the investigation. It suggested that overbooking is a common practice used by all airlines, locally and internationally, to manage operations, reduce the impact of no-shows, and keep air travel affordable.

FlySafair said it overbooks by up to 1% of capacity, representing at most two seats per flight. In the past 10 months, only 0.0006% of customers were denied boarding due to overbooking, it claimed.